Effective thermal conductivity within packed beds of spherical particles

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3250793· OSTI ID:6102758

Duncan, A B ^[1]; Peterson, G P; Fletcher, L S ^[2]

---

1. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States)
2. Texas A and M Univ., College Station (United States)

An investigation of the effective thermal conductivity of packed beds of spherical particles was conducted. Included is a brief review of related analytical and experimental investigations, along with a description of the results from an experimental program. Five beds of different materials were evaluated to determine the effective thermal conductivity as a function of the mechanical load on the bed, the conductivity of the bed material, and the interstitial gaseous environment surrounding the bed particles. The effective thermal conductivity of the packed beds were found to be dependent upon the thermal conductivity of the bed material sand the axial load. The presence of an interstitial gas increased the effective thermal conductivity of the bed by a factor of two in almost all cases. The experimental results obtained for vacuum conditions were compared with two existing analytical models that assumed elastic deformation of the spheres. The analytical models slightly underpredicted the effective thermal conductivity for hard materials with low thermal conductivities below the elastic limit for these materials. For soft materials with relatively high thermal conductivities, the analytical models overpredicted the effective thermal conductivity by as much as an order of magnitude.

• OSTI ID: 6102758
• Journal Information: Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States), Vol. 111:4; ISSN 0022-1481
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
PACKED BED
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
CATALYSTS
CATALYTIC CONVERTERS
FUEL ELEMENT CLUSTERS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
SPHERES
THERMAL INSULATION
EQUIPMENT
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
420400* - Engineering- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow